Blueprint Fundraising

Happy holidays, readers! I wish you health, joy and success in the year ahead. I’m taking a break for a few days. Back to posting in 2007.

- Andrea

Shiny Things photo by Today is a Good Day

The topic on Sunday’s Cross Country Checkup call-in on CBC Radio was “What motivates you to give to charity? What puts you off.”

Required listening for all fundraising types!

I was busy during the show and only heard one call. It was about (surprise surprise) the unacceptably high cost of administration and fundraising. If you missed it too, you can listen online or download the show. I’m really looking forward to listening to the whole thing. But I’m anticipating sky high blood pressure as I yell back at callers who know nothing about how well most nonprofits work.

Christmas is a good time to count blessings and try to keep the pointless gluttonous consumption to a minimum.

Here’s some help putting it in perspective: the Global Rich List, where you key in your income and discover how you compare to the rest of the planet. It’s the perfect inspiration for extra holiday giving.

The site is by POKE and allows people to donate to CARE at the moment.

The drama continues… MADD’s national board is fighting back with a detailed response to the Toronto Star articles and a clarification that they have not suspended their fundraising. MADD says that that have been using the word-count allocation of fundraising expenses on the advice of a Canada Revenue Agency auditor. Meanwhile, a CRA spokesperson denies that CRA approves of this method of allocation…

Today MADD Canada announced that it will suspend fundraising pending an internal review of fundraising practices.

The dramatic announcement comes in response to allegations made in a Toronto Star article that says MADD spends only 19 cents of every dollar raised on its charitable purposes. The rest goes to fundraising and administration.

On the weekend, Andrew Murie, MADD Canada’s CEO said “the article’s claims of misspending and high fundraising costs are absolutely false. The Star’s investigation smacks of ‘gotcha journalism.’ It is unfair and obviously very hurtful to the many thousands of volunteers who put their heart and soul into the organization.â€?

But coverage since the weekend shows a major rift between MADD’s head office and its local chapters, where board members and volunteers have been requesting transparency on this issue for a long time.

The way that MADD counts its fundraising costs would probably rile many donors if they understood it (but is a common practice in direct mail and telemarketing programs). It comes down to a loose interpretation of “fundraising” and “education.” If your direct mail, telemarketing and door-to-door canvassing raises awareness for your cause, can’t you count some of those expenses as furthering your mission? That’s how MADD justifies the claim that 83.6% of the funds they raise goes to programs and mission.

I believe that there probably is some educational value to their fundraising programs, but there has to be a way to prove this and communicate it to donors so they know that their donations are being spent this way. Otherwise, the practice just does further damage to donor trust in charities. MADD is only promising an internal investigation– they won’t be opening the books for independent scrutiny. Stay tuned for more on this one…